Hiro felt like he was starting to lose his mind.

In class, as Granville was teaching another lesson, he saw his brother again. Walking down the halls, but when he went to pursue, Tadashi had disappeared.

There's no way ghosts can be real, right? Hiro thought. It was impossible, no such thing as ghosts, right?
"Hiro?" He looked up from his lunch. Sara was staring at him, worry in her eyes. "You freaked out in class today, are you alright?"
"I'm fine, just fell asleep a little." He lied. "I'm good."
"Is Mikan forcing you to keep a secret or something?"
He looked at her. "What?"

"I mean, David's been acting awkward around her for weeks! And they won't tell me anything!" Sara ranted. "That's so weird of Mikan! And David always tells me everything, we're siblings! Uhg!"
"Sara?" It made him think too much of his own late sibling.
His words brought her back to reality. "Oh. Sorry, that might've just been me projecting a little. Siblings, amiright?" She then noticed he was sniffling. "Oh my god Hiro sorry!" Sara freaked upon seeing his watery eyes.
"It's-it's fine." He sighed, wiping his eyes with a napkin. "What were you saying about Mikan?"

"I don't think I'm supposed to tell you." She frowned. "It's a family thing problem."
"Did your uncle and aunt tell you that?"
"No. But do you want to know?" He nodded. "All of us are worried about Mikan's weird behavior, she's always sneaking around, never telling us anything. Acting a little creepy like her weird dad. And she's been kind of passive-aggressive about her jabs at Big Hero 6."
No kidding. Hiro frowned. "Maybe it's something at home that's bothering her." He suspected Trina. But if I tell Sara that, then she might be the one who gets attacked by robots next.

"That's our guess, but god forbid if we imply anything negative about her dad. She practically worships him, I mean I've met him once or twice, kind of creepy-"
"What did he look like? Just curious." And I need something to take my mind off the fact I might be having a ghost problem.

"Ah jeez lemme think. Well he was kind of tall, lean in figure. He had a red streak in his hair. And his eyes were cold-blue, not warm like your sister's. If looks could kill, those eyes could burn someone." Sara shuddered at the memory. "You feeling better?"
"Yeah." Hiro nodded. "A little bit." That description sounds familiar, where have I met someone like that?

"Good, good." She chuckled. "Do you want to get a Noodle Burger?"
"Sure!"

Ferns and Nerds group chat:

TheLittleMermaid: I have a weird question for you guys. Do you believe in ghosts?

Hiro Hamada: They're not real… I think.

Rachel Rosemary: You think?!

Mikan Ferns: "I grew up thinking the weird crow that lives in our yard is a ghost." -David

Sienna Kline: Omg honey no

Mikan Ferns: "NORMAL CROWS DO NOT BREAK INTO HOUSES" -David

Sara Ferns: The crow is totally a ghost

Mikan Ferns: This is what I have to live with.

Rachel Rosemary: Okay?

TheLittleMermaid: Hey Gogo I'm coming to your apartment, are you and/or Honey Lemon there?

Gogo: Yep

Honey Lemon: I'm out grocery shopping right now.

TheLittleMermaid: What are you buying?

Honey Lemon: Groceries?

TheLittleMermaid: Oh.

"That's fake fear Gogo. I thought you said you were afraid of leprechauns."

"I am but this… this is mostly sad."

Ari narrowed her eyes as she heard the banter from Gogo and Fred, she hadn't even knocked on the door! Did Fred try to scare Gogo by using her darkest fear? She wondered. Not cool dude.

She heard an offended gasp. "I spent hours applying this beard. It's real hair!"

"No it's all sad. Fred, Halloween is over." Ari frowned, Halloween had been over for two days already! Why was she still seeing-

"Oh no. Frederick Frederickson does not give up. I will scare you Gogo. Just you wait. Just you wait!"

Thud. Thud.

Ari had enough and opened the door, Fred was trying to bike out of the room on his tricycle. He was wearing the saddest leprechaun outfit ever, real beard hair and all.

"Oh, hi Ari!" Fred chuckled. "Thanks." He then tried biking down the stairs, and tripped down, she winced as he yelped in pain the entire way down.

"Bye Fred!" She gave him a sympathetic stare and walked into the apartment. Gogo was reading a magazine but looked up to acknowledge her presence.

"Hiro trying to steal your Halloween candy Ariel?" She teased. "Don't worry, he used to tease Tadashi about that all the time and he never followed through."
Ari shook her head. "No, he hasn't bothered me at all." Mostly because we're having problems. "But speaking of Tadashi..." Ari gave a nervous gulp. "Can you tell me about the showcase? The one where he...?" She gestured to her throat.

Gogo dropped the magazine, her eyes darkened. The tension was so thick one could cut it with a butter knife. "And why do you want to know about this?"
"Because nobody wants to talk about it." She mumbled, head down trying to avoid seeing the anger in Gogo's eyes. "I just wanna know what happened."
She sighed. "Hiro did his microbot presentation, he got accepted. Krei tried buying his microbots, Callaghan encouraged him to say no and he did. We then left the hall. Then the fire happened." Her words were curt, her tone emotionless. "Is that all you wanted to know?"
"Well yes but-"
"Then don't. Ever. Bring it up. Again." Ari had never felt afraid of Gogo before, but she felt terror seeing the rage burning in her brown eyes.

"I'm sorry." Maybe I shouldn't ask Gogo for help. Without another word she left her alone. A tear rolled down her cheek as she closed the door.

Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm just going crazy.

Meanwhile for Mikan and David...

"I don't like lying to Sara anymore." David told her. "We should tell her where we're going. Where you're going."

"Stop asking me that dude." Mikan huffed, but her mind was on something else. She was aware of the weird behavior from Hiro and Ari and felt bad for them. But nothing I can do for them. She sighed.
"Why not?" David frowned. "Is it because your dad told you?"
"My dad is… he's working on something." She explained. "Something big. Something you and Sara will love, but I need to keep it secret for him."
"What is it?"
"I can't tell you."
"Oh." He huffed. "Are you sure this 'thing' is good for you? Or good for your dad?"
She grew angry at the words, how dare David accuse her father of just using her! He wouldn't! But would he?

"Man, can we just order our yogurt in peace." Mikan gestured to the frozen yogurt store they drove up to. "C'mon. We can grab some for your mom even."
"Okay." He wasn't convinced. "But do you have to yell at Sara so much?"
"Does she have to be so nosy?"

Later that night...

"Oh my god!" Ari gasped. "What happened to Baymax?!"
"Noodle Burger Boy happened." Hiro grumbled. "He had stolen some Buddy Guards at the Krei-Tech shipyard, and also they turned into dumplings." He picked up a wrench from his toolbox, and turned his attention back to the exposed exoskeleton of the robot. "I had to wrestle one of those things." He gestured.
"Wow." She hummed. "I always thought wrestling robots was a thing Gogo would do."
"That's what Fred said." He chuckled. "But he's not gonna touch a dumpling after we got attacked by flying dumpling robots."
"Yeah that's true. Poor guy." Ari paused. "Hey Hiro?"
"Yes?"
"Remember that one time we spied on Aunt Cass's date and you said flying dumplings would have to happen for you to fall in love?"
Hiro's eyes widened. "Oh no. Ohhh no."
"Yes!" She giggled. "Cupid's arrow is eventually gonna hit you soon big brother!" Ari placed a hand to her chin. "Maybe it'll hit a certain biotech teen genius at our school too-"
"Ari I swear to god if you ever ship me and Karmi ever again I'll-"
"Ooh ship! That reminds me I gotta come up with a ship name!"
Hiro groaned. "I'd rather you not…" He fixed up some of Baymax's wiring and turned the robot on. "There buddy, how's that?"
"I am unable to move my arms." He replied. "Also, my legs."
"Ouch." Ari winced. "NBB slammed him hard."
"Don't remind me." Hiro sighed. "I better make a few more adjustments." He reached for his toolbox, but Ari grabbed his sleeve jacket. "What?"
She pointed to the garage door, he turned.

Standing under a lamplight was Tadashi.

Hiro and Ari gasped. Then, he walked away.
"Tadashi?" Hiro frowned.
"Oh god not again!" Ari groaned. "Baymax please tell me you saw that?"
"Saw what?" Baymax blinked.
"Tadashi!" Hiro pointed outside. "He was-he was right there!"
The robot's head tilted down. "Hiro, I am sorry. But Tadashi could not have been here. Tadashi is-"
"Gone." He sighed. "I know." Ari placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Missing a loved one can be difficult." Baymax told them.

"It makes no sense though." His sister frowned. "I never met Tadashi, if it's just in your head, why am I seeing him too?"
"I don't know." He narrowed his eyes. "Baymax, wait here."

"I don't think he's going anywhere." Ari gestured to the robot's inactive limbs. "But I'm coming too."

"Fine." Time for them to solve the mystery of these strange appearances.

Hiro exited the garage, with his sister trailing behind him. He saw Tadashi walking down the road. Hiro ran after him, as Tadashi crossed the street a truck drove by before they could cross. But he saw his brother's gaze before the truck blocked his field of vision.

"This is freaky." Ari commented, gasping as after the truck passed there was no sign of Tadashi. Then she turned around. "Hiro!" She pointed.

Hiro turned and resumed the chase as they followed Tadashi through an alleyway. A trolley drove past them, and both teens gasped when seeing Tadashi on that trolley.
"What the hell?" He whispered, chills going down his spine as he ran to the trolley station but the trolley drove to its next stop just as they arrived. The bells rang and their sound echoed through the hallowed night.

"He's over there." Ari pointed across the street, Hiro looked up to see his brother walking into-
"The haunted house?" He frowned. It had been two days, and the decorations hadn't been taken down. The sign was still there even.

The door squeaked as Hiro opened it, Ari gripped his left hand. "I'm really, really scared now." She whimpered.
"Me too." Hiro clenched her hand as they walked through the haunted halls. "Hello?"
"Anyone home?" Ari called out. "Mr. O'Hare? The mailman?"
Slam!

"Aah!" They jumped back as the door slammed behind them. Hiro swore and dragged Ari through the halls to get away from the entrance.

"I think it's just us." Ari shivered. "Maybe we should turn back. It's really late."

"Come on!" He protested. "I know someone's here." They walked past the room with the crystal ball. "We just saw-"
They stopped.

Hiro gasped, Ari just kept her mouth open wide.

There was a figure on the other side of the table, and he turned around. Staring at the teens with his chocolate-brown eyes.

"Hey, little brother." Tadashi greeted them.

Hiro walked into the room, the floorboards creaked as he took shaky steps toward his brother. "Is… is it?" This has to be a dream there's no way.

"Yes, it's me." Tadashi nodded.

Roaring, flaming fires were bursting out of the showcase hall. The brothers gasped as smoke poured from the doors and students ran.

As his brother was about to rescue Callaghan, Hiro gripped his shoulder. "Tadashi, no!"
But Tadashi didn't listen. "Callaghan's in there, someone has to help." He ran inside, his hat falling to the side.

And then the building exploded.

Hiro blinked, squinted his eyes. "This is impossible!" He held his hands to his head. "You-you died! We buried your body!"
"C'mon, nothing's impossible Hiro." Tadashi shrugged.
"How? How are you here?"

"Well, I could ask you the same thing." He replied. "How are you here, when I know for a fact, that Aunt Cass would not let you out this late."
"I-I was working in the garage." Hiro explained. "And then I saw you and I just-"
"Just snuck out?" Tadashi guessed, a hint of humor in his tone.

"I didn't sneak." He placed his hands into his pocket. "I… left."
"Without telling her where you were going? It's good to see nothing's changed." His brother smiled. "Still the same old Hiro."
Hiro smiled, then gave a frightened sound and backed away. "This is crazy. This is just crazy!"

"Yeah. You're telling me." Ari spoke up.

"Hm? Who's this?" Tadashi turned her. "One of your friends?"

"Oh uh..." Hiro scrambled. "This is Ari. She's very, very important to me." He nudged her into the room. "Yama, you remember Yama right?"
"I remember Yama." His brother nodded.
"Right. So Yama kidnapped her once, I found her. She had-I mean she has amnesia, and we kind of adopted her." He explained. "N-not that we tried to replace you or anything! But she just needed our help."
"Hi." Ari awkwardly waved. "It's uh, nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you too." Tadashi smiled. "Thank you for looking out for my brother."

Ari's eyes lit up at the praise, and a part of Hiro was starting to believe it was his brother standing in front of them. It's a miracle, it's a miracle!

"So how's it going at nerd school?" Tadashi took a seat.
"It's-it's everything you said it'd be." Hiro replied. "Uh, except this professor, Granville. She's just so-ahhh!" He wasn't used to such a strict teacher. Most of his high school teachers were so laid back. Probably because they didn't know what to do with a 9 year-old that was smarter than most of the student body. "But I-I don't know, I guess that's good for me."
Tadashi frowned at his words. "Good for you?"
"She thinks I need limits."
"Which he does." Ari added.

"Limits? Limits will just slow you down." Tadashi told him.

He frowned, that wasn't something his brother, who always ran tests before trying out something would say. "Uh, what do you mean?"
Tadashi placed his hands on the table. "Hiro you can do anything. Be anything. But time is precious. Don't waste it. And definitely, don't let Professor Granville or anyone hold you back."
"But limits are a good thing." Ari argued. "Even Mikan of all people agrees."
"She does?"
"Yeah." Hiro nodded. "Mikan is always careful when working in the labs, she tells me that I should value safety over success."

Ari nodded. "I think something happened to her which is why she has that idea, but I agree!"

Hiro noticed in the corner of his eye his brother had a fiery anger burning in his eyes. But he brushed it off since it merely lasted for a moment.

"I see." Tadashi murmured. "How's Aunt Cass doing?"
"Aunt Cass is doing great." He took a seat in the chair, across from his brother. "But I-I can tell she misses you."

"She does." Ari added.

"I miss you too." Hiro looked up at his brother, despite Tadashi sitting there smiling at him, he still felt the pain of loss in his heart. It would never go away, even if Tadashi was here.

Ari noticed the sadness rolling off of him and gripped his shoulder, smiling. "And Baymax misses you too, in his own little robot way." She chuckled.
"Yeah, that and he's awesome." He grinned. "Of course he's a little broken right now. B-But I can fix him." He quickly added to avoid causing his brother to freak-out at "Baymax being broken."
However, Tadashi didn't freak-out, he didn't even express any worry. He just gazed to the side of the wall and said. "You know, Hiro. You shouldn't waste your talents fixing my old work."

What?

What!?

That was something his brother would never say! Tadashi would be happy that he was interested in his work, and he'd also be proud if he was working safely.

Ari gasped, she realized what was wrong too. She pulled him up from the chair and guarded him.
"What's wrong?" His brother raised an eyebrow.

"Don't fix Baymax? You don't need limits...?" He repeated. "Tadashi would never say those things."
He stood up. "I just want what's best for you."
"You… are not my brother." Hiro growled, backing towards the door. But it slammed shut. He felt cornered like a rat. Ari wrapped her arms around his torso, her eyes flaring blue with protectiveness.

"Don't take another step." She threatened. "Tadashi or not, you are not laying a single hand on my brother."
"He was my brother first." He glared at her with those cold brown eyes. "You just replaced me."
"Tadashi would definitely never say that!" Hiro snapped before his sister reacted. "He would've loved having a little sister." He trembled. "Who are you really?"

"What are you?" Ari shivered. "Why are you doing this to us?"
The imposter chuckled, like it was a silly game. "Doing what?"
"Pretending to be my brother."
"And messing with us!"

"I don't know what you're talking about." His arm leaned on the chair. "Little brother."
"It's this haunted house." Ari whispered.

He caught on, all this started because they had come here. "Yeah, it's messing with us. But how?"
Ari pointed behind the imposter, to the set of machines wired into the wall.

"The kinetoscopes..." He gasped. "Digital imaging lenses."
"Lenses?" The imposter smirked, the symbol on his hat then shifted into another symbol, a monstrous symbol. "Clever boy."

Ari gasped with horror at the voice, the cat out of the bag.
"Obake." Hiro growled. He took two fingers to his eyes, and removed the contacts, and removed the image of his brother from his sight.
Ari repeated the motion. "Man… that's messed up." She sighed, then watched as Hiro ran to the table, kicking the chair to the ground.
"Damn Obake! Damn haunted house!" Hiro screeched. "DAMN GHOSTS! THIS WHOLE TIME WE WERE BEING TOYED?!" His anger erupted into a volcano as he punched the chair, wood splintering and his hand bloody red as he raged.
"Hiro! Hiro!" Ari grabbed his arm, fighting with her strength to stop his pain. "It's over, he can't hurt us now!"
"He used Tadashi… AGAINST ME!" The tears in his eyes flowed out. "He used my brother against me Ari!"

"Hey hey, he'll be stopped." Ari pulled him into a hug. "Please don't hurt yourself over this." She gestured to his splintered hand.
"I won't do that." Hiro started plucking some of the splinters off, wincing in pain. "It… it hurts so much."
She knew he wasn't talking about the splinters. "They'll heal, they just need lots of love."

"Yeah." They shared a hug, the heaviness that had weighed down on them for days was finally lifted.

But all that remained was an aching pain in both of their souls.

Superhero Squad group chat:

Flame Jumper: Hiro and Ari THE HAUNTED HOUSE PUT CONTACTS IN OUR EYES. TAKE THEM OFF BEFORE YOU START HALLUCINATING

Captain Cutie: We know

Ariel: What the heck did you guys see?

Chem Girl: Our worst fears

Ariel: Oof

Speed Queen: Yeah. I'm gonna have nightmares about this.

Chop Chop: Wait if you guys already knew… what did you see?!

Captain Cutie: Something really messed up.

Flame Jumper: We're at my house, meet us there to discuss what happened?

Captain Cutie: Deal.

Ariel: Bring marshmallows, I want to drown my sorrows in them

Captain Cutie: ^

Speed Queen: Omg

"Wait, you saw Tadashi?" The group was huddled by the couch. Gogo had been the first to verbally react when Hiro told them what happened in the haunted house.

"Not only that, I talked to him." He bowed his head down. "It was so… real."
Honey Lemon placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry Hiro."
"Uhg, that is crossing a line." Wasabi's gaze darkened with anger.

"Agreed." Fred shared a similar expression, but tears rimmed from his eyes. "How dare he taint Tadashi's memory like that..."

"Seriously, what is this Obake guys' deal?" Gogo narrowed her eyes.
"And how could he know so much about Tadashi?" Hiro questioned.
Ari then spoke up. "Maybe he saw the videos he took during his tests from Baymax?" She offered. "Like, he submitted them to the school right?"
"Mhmm." He nodded, a suspect forming in his head. "Baymax? Did you show any of the tapes to anyone?"
"Yes." The robot nodded. "Mikan had requested a copy of all the tests approximately 1 week ago."
"Of course Mikan is involved." He growled. "That traitor."
The others shared confused glances to Hiro. "What are you talking about?" Wasabi frowned.
"Guys, I found out that Mikan had a hand in the bot robberies." He explained. "Because, her 'other sister' was Trina."

The reactions were instant.
"Oh."
"WHAT?!"
"This is just like the Captain Fancy movie all over again!"
"Are you kidding?!"
"Mikan? No!"
"Does that mean she was just pretending to be nice to me this whole time?" Ari sniffled.

Hiro shook his head. "I don't know. But she did help Trina form a wedge in our sibling bond."

"Oh..."

"I have a few choice words with Ms. 'Critical of superheroes' next time I see her." Gogo crossed her arms.
"Bad idea! You never confront the morally grey character in the story! That'll just drive them to the villain side even more!" Fred argued. "Our best bet is to maybe try to ask Sara or David to try and get her to lighten up. She has been distant lately."

Honey Lemon adjusted her glasses. "Remember when Mikan got taken hostage by NBB? She must have set that up! I can't believe she was working with Obake the whole time, and spying on us!"

And who knows if she was even our friend in the first place. Ari shifted uncomfortably in her seat. But maybe… maybe she doesn't know the whole plan.
"I don't think Mikan wanted to do that..." She confessed. "She looked really bad when we were out in the corn maze." The others exchanged hopeful glances, maybe there was a sliver of good in Mikan.

"Can I ask what happened to you guys now?"
Fred posed dramatically. "Glad to Ari! Noodle Burger Boy had crashed into the school with his new dumpling robots! We were there, I was enjoying a nice pizza when Gogo called us over. The dastardly fiend was trying to steal the high-powered magnet she was helping Professor Granville on. But thanks to those accursed lenses, we were distracted by our own fears and he got away! What was worse, I didn't get to enjoy Gogo being scared!"
Punch.

"OW!"
"THAT was the worst part?!"
Both teens giggled with amusement as Gogo chased Fred around the room for his constant fixation on scaring her.

"I don't like talking about Mikan this way. I wanna believe there's good in her." Ari whispered to her brother.
"Me too." I just hope her love for David and Sara is stronger than Trina's influence. If I could beat it, maybe she can too.

In another location, Obake was watching some of the clips from Tadashi's robotics project. Next to the side of him, Mikan stared at the screen with sadness. A few hours ago she watched her dad pretend to be a dead friend and trick Hiro and Ari.

If it was supposed to be for a good cause, why do I feel so… bad? A hand clenched her chest, which felt heavy. Mikan tried to cool the primal anger in her veins about this all about her father's plans.

Her little brother arriving with the magnet delivery distracted her from her thoughts. "Order up mister!" He beamed as much as a robot with a permanent grin on his face could.

"Good. Very good." Obake's hands brushed the side of the magnet. "Yes… this will do nicely." The left side of his face flashed violet, nearby a handful of Buddy Guards were building a machine. The one on Shimamoto's blueprints.

Soon his plans would come to fruition, and all he needed was Hiro to complete the puzzle.

AN: Happy Halloween! Hope your night was better than Hiro and Ari's

HAHAHAHAHAHAH! Poor kids! And the gang now know about Mikan! She has her limits, esp on the whole thing Obake did.

Reminder that Tadashi was also her friend so seeing her dad impersonate him was messed up, even for her.

And wow almost done Season 1, and right near the HOF anniversary omg XD

See you next week for Countdown To Catastrophe! Disclaimer: No Ari's were harmed in the making of this season finale.

QOTW: Shame that it's the only Ari-Tadashi interaction that'll happen in HOF and it doesn't even count... but do you think Tadashi would get along with Ari if they ever got to meet?